Page 28 - Beauties for Life in the Qur'an

26 BEAUTIES FOR LIFE IN THE QUR'AN

He said: "I am sick." So they turned their backs on him. (Surat
as-Saffat: 89-90)
As the verses reveal, as soon as he announced that he was
sick, the people around him left immediately and thus left him
alone with the idols. The rest of the account is related as follows:
"By Allah, I will devise a scheme against your idols when your
backs are turned." He broke them in pieces, except for the
biggest one, so that they would have it to consult! (Surat al-
Anbiya': 57-58)
The Prophet Ibrahim (as) broke all of the stone idols, except
for the biggest one, to which his people attributed great power
and worshipped. After some time, the furious people ap-
proached him:
They asked: "Did you do this to our gods, Ibrahim?" He replied:
"No, this one, the biggest of them, did it. Ask them, if they are
able to speak!" So they returned to (blaming) themselves and
said (to each other), "Indeed, you are the wrongdoers." (Surat al-
Anbiya': 62-64)
Considering the related verses as a whole reveals that the
Prophet Ibrahim (as) carried out a plan of several stages in a
very wise manner. As a result, he attained his desired end.
Indeed, his idolatrous people came to understand that the sole
remaining idol had no power to help them. This idol, as with all
of the others that were broken, was merely a piece of stone that
could not see, hear, or speak. More importantly, they could not
protect themselves. In fact, this was the Prophet Ibrahim (as)'s
message to his people: Abandon worshipping stones and turn
to Allah, the Creator of the universe.
Prophet Ibrahim (as) analyzed the possibilities that could
arise and thus attained the desired result. This example, to-
gether with many similar ones provided in the Qur'an, reveal